Sam Rivers, Jr., was born at
home, in a house in the woods beside the Sabine River 69
years ago. He points in the direction, sitting at home in
his easy chair looking out through a large window toward
the water's edge of Toledo Lake a couple hundred feet
away. That original home place by the river is now
covered by the waters of Toledo Bend Lake, that since its
completion in 1969 has become a magnet for tourism,
fishing, and residential and commercial development.

Rivers
will be honored as the Oldest Logger at the 24th annual
Loggers Festival at nearby Zwolle on the 11th and 12th of
this month of May.

In a community that thrives on logging, Sam Rivers,
Jr., has been successful, a reality that shows in the
home on the lakefront, and in the recognitions he has
earned in his works, his church, and his family.

In a background on his career presented when he was
inducted into the Louisiana Loggers Hall of Fame in 2011,
it is stated, "His parents are the late Sam A.
Rivers, Sr., and Mary Louise Ebarb Rivers. He has six
sisters and six brothers, of which he is the oldest
son." He was married to Henrietta Ebarb, and they
had seven children.

His father, Sam Rivers Sr., formed Sam A. Rivers and
Sons, Inc. in 1974, and employed five of his seven sons,
including Sam, Jr. In 1988, Sam Sr. sold his business to
his eldest son, Sam Jr., who had been supervising it
since 1974. Sam Jr. contracted with Walsh Timber Company
in Zwolle.

Sam's wife, Henrietta, died in 2003. In 2008, he met
his present wife, Carolyn Farley, and they married in
2009.

Sam has been a lifelong member of St. Joseph's
Catholic Church in Zwolle. He has served as a Eucharistic
minister, greeter, usher, and finance council president.
He is a third degree member of Knights of Columbus, and a
member of the Equestrian Order (Knights and Ladies) of
the Holy Sepulchre.

He founded the Annual Henrietta Rivers Memorial 5K
Run, held during the Zwolle Loggers Festival.

Hed served as the 35th Annual Tamale Fiesta King, and
in his spare time today he enjoys golfing, fishing, and
spending time with family in their home on Toledo Bend.

Sam Jr. was featured in a cover story in the August,
2007 edition of Southern Loggin' Times, a national
loggers magazine. Southern Loggin' Times writer David
Abbott wrote: "Rivers . . . enjoys a comfortable
financial position. He's been successful enough to call
his own shots and name the terms of his own deals, and if
he doesn't like the deal, he can afford to walk away.
Moreover, he doesnl't have to keep working because of a
need for cash flow. He does it for his kids, and because
he likes it, and because, he says, he has nothing else to
do. The job is a family operation and family is his
life."

During an interview in the Rivers home on Toledo Lake,
he remarked that Zwolle is in a unique position with
several advantages that he summaried as "Four
T's." He cited "Timber, Tamales, Toledo, and
Tourism" as a unique economic combination for the
area.

With Sam's youthful outlook and a lot of ideas besides
logging, he is likely to be involved in developing the
community around the Toledo waterfront for quite awhile
into the future.